This morning Ron and Dean left before I thought to take a picture. An Ozzie and a Londoner off to Vladivostok. Take care guys.

Beth left shortly afterwards with Shalom, heading for the large Buddhist monastery in the north. All the guys all wanted her picture, the poor girl was quite embarrassed!

Shalom’s speedo cable broke a while ago, which means it’s stopped recording the mileage too. Take a close look at exactly when that cable broke. What are the chances eh??

Wild and domesticated camels abound. These are bactrian camels, which is great as I’ve only seen dromedaries up to now. (It was starting to give me the hump!). I’d always thought that bactrians would make a better mount, as the shape of the humps makes them look comfier. I’ve had the opportunity to try both now, but I declined on both occasions. I prefer mechanical rather than organic steeds.

Horses are the other main form of transport here. It’s very common to see people on horses herding their flocks, even in the middle of the city. Cows roam freely and with unfenced roads is pretty much a free for all. In fact the roads so far are pretty much anarchy. No respect for others, just an “I must pass you” mentality.

Outside of the city I’m sure it’ll be much better. Or rather I HOPE it’ll be much better!!

OK, it’s not actually midnight here, but it’s midnight somewhere on the planet! Besides which, the photo I took at midnight doesn’t look so good – being a bit dark and all.

I was up early this morning and the sight of all the adventure bikes next to the gers was too good not to capture. Each one tells is own story, with certain modifications made by the owner to overcome this or that problem. Scuffs, scrapes and broken components from this or that crash etc.. Not worth a great deal in financial terms due to the high mileage and condition, but priceless sentimental value to their owners. Maybe.

Most of the riders are heading off today, north into Russia and then east towards Vladivostok. We’ll stay another day to explore the city and get Mongolian SIM cards. After a great night swapping stories last night, it’ll be a lot quieter when they’ve all gone. I’ll see them away later.

I’m still surprised at how many people are out there doing this. Brilliant!

After a great night’s sleep in one if the comfiest beds so far, Mongolia pulled a sunny day out for us. The food at oasis is great, so after breakfast we set off to see what Ulan Bator has to offer. The other bikers had told us of an amazing bazaar that was all things automotive. I wanted to find a new switch and some oil to do an oil change.

I set off waking with Ozzie Ron, Shalom from Israel, Beth from the USA, Chip and Ken. We left London Dean changing his rear tyre, and London Jamie doing who knows what. All these guys are bikers heading East, so we’ve been swapping notes on our respective journeys so far.

The bazaar was closed, but I found a shop selling oil. I also found an ATM, which once we’d raided gave us enough money to be millionaires! I’ve actually held a million in notes, how’s that for a life experience?

I was looking to change my oil but had nowhere to dump the used oil. Someone suggested the garage next door, but I didn’t want anyone else doing the spanner work. I already had oil, so I doubted they’d be willing to assist. As it turns out the guys were great. They were happy to have us there and only charged for disposing the old oil. (A very small price).

In the end there were four bikes getting attention. I did my oil and filter and fitted my switch elsewhere, so I’m good to go. Kent from the US joined us at the garage for a new rest tyre. Awesome!

At UB, Chip and Ken had lined up a place to stay from the horizons unlimited website. The Oasis is a traveller friendly hostel, with everything you need (including WiFi!). I’ll stay for a couple of days as it looks like there’s a lot to see in UB.

Tonight we’re staying in a ger, which is actually very comfortable. It’s interesting to see how they’re constructed, very clever with inter-changeable parts. Stable but transportable, with a wood burning stove in the centre.

There’s about half a dozen other touring bikes here, so with any luck we’ll be able to find out which is the best for crossing Mongolia. The northern, central or southern route. Taking to the guys it sounds like they’re all doable, but the only way to know for sure is to pick one and go. Hmm.

I made it to Ulan Bator over some of the best roads yet. One section was just a track with some sand, but it didn’t last more than 20 minutes. The rest was good tarmac. When they build roads, the Mongolians certainly know how to.

But the best part was definitely the scenery. Green rolling hills and mountains in the distance. Huge expanses of dry plains and very few signs of humans. (Apart from the other cars). The odd Ger and herd of goats and cows, with a herdsman on horseback.

It was epic. A bit like parts of the UK, but vastly bigger. The sensation of space is almost overwhelming. Rolling into the city of Ulan Bator was an experience, suddenly thrust into an urban sprawl in juxtaposition to the rest of the day.

What a day!

Looks like we’ve met some friendly locals already!

We’ve just crossed the border into Mongolia. It took just under 3 hours and was quite an experience. The Russian side was efficient and the people friendly but in a standoff way, as you’d expect. The Mongolian side was chaos, stern faces all round and not a smile to be seen.

The process was fairly simple, take your paper slip to get stamped over there. Then bring it back and I’ll stamp it here. Then take it back over there to get it stamped again. Then bring it back here and I’ll stamp it again. When you have 5 stamps on the right order you can go.

But we won’t tell you, you have to figure it out for yourself. When you’re free to go we won’t tell you that either, we’ll just leave you hanging around until you’ve had enough and piss off.

When you’re almost out, we’ll close the gate and sell you some insurance. (Not actually a problem, I need it and it’s nice to have. It’s also dirt cheap and probably not worth the paper it’s printed on).

Anyway, I’m here in Mongolia! Not somewhere I’d ever envisaged going and I’m quite proud to have made it this far. The Russian mobile network will vanish in the next 100km or so, which means this may be my last blog post for a while. It depends on how much WiFi there is in Mongolia.